300TDi reluctant cold starts

Hi Kieran

I am not a expert, but have had a lot of diesel's and have had problems just as you discribe.

The best way to check them, remove all of them(four) and connect a wire (quite thick) from the battery positive to the top of the glow plug, and earth the other end ( BEWARE THEY WILL GET HOT "GLOW") so hold with a pair of plyers or something, and try all four.

if they go red, they are ok, if they stay black they are dud.

There is a way of testing with a multimeter but this way you will be sure they are ok or not.

The final testm check you have 12V on the wire that you remove from the plugs, when you turn on the Ign.

"WARNING" if ok they will be very hot if ok !!!!!!!!

Steve

Need to have a current draw test done to determine how efficient they are

Sounds like one or more duff glow plugs or a fayult on their wiring restricting current flow. I'm not sure how they are wired on the

300tdi but a quick check would be to check the resistance on each plug in turn (disconnect the wire first) and they should all be around the same, someone may be along in a moment with a number. A duff one may show notably higher resistance.

-- Mark.

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Easiest way is to time how long they take to glow red. The parts listing book from the glow plug manufacturer should give a time for each type of glow plug.

Richard-beamends have you got these listings and if so could you please post the times for the benefit of all?

do the leakoff pipe bolts still come loose on 300s cos m8s 200 always started first time unless the banjo bolts came loose it needed to be realy cole b4 glow plugs had to be left to work

WTF did that say?

-- Subaru WRX Landrover 110 County Station Wagon (Tyson) WTB a clean RRC pref 3.9 or LSE 4.2

'"gimme the f*ckin' money"

On or around Wed, 28 Sep 2005 10:31:21 -0700, "RADIOTWO" enlightened us thusly:

definitely sounds like glow plugs, and also second the thing about the way to test 'em. They're very low resistance, so you can't generally get sense from a meter - I've also seen one that glowed half-way up rather than at the tip, which would have checked out OK with a resistance meter but was no actual use.

On or around Wed, 28 Sep 2005 18:41:33 +0100, MVP enlightened us thusly:

not conclusive, (except that an open-circuit plug is dud) so you really have to pull 'em and test 'em on the battery.

Hi Kieran, I'd be trying a simple solution to a known problem and that is the earthing strap near the starter motor. The original ones were a braded strap, and this can fill with road "muck" and over time become useless. On their way out they act as a big resistor, which draws a lot of current, and in some case changes into a heater element and can turn a nice read colour as it glows.

Maybe have someone watch this earth strap as you are turning over the motor, and then check to see how warm it gets.

Have seen quite a few 300 cause early morning problems due to this strap.

Cheers

Phillip S

Something I found with my VM RR that may apply to your engine.

The relay supplying power to the glow plugs had failed, the plugs were all fine and tested fine, the light on dash indicated glows were ON, but in fact the glows were not getting power. I linked a lead light up to one of the glows, no light. Ran a light jumper lead from + on battery and operated glows manually, started fine cold. Replaced the relay (70A) and cold starting was right again

Michael T, Aussie 88 RRC (soon to be TDi300)

I don't have them - I'll see if I can find them.

Richard

Thanks. If you can't find them I can probably ask a few favours to get them but now that I've left the automotive trade it's a bit hard to get hold of this sort of thing.

true 'nuff

-- Mark.

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It would seem unusual in my experience for ALL glow plugs to snuff it at once.

As the light seems to be OK, I would be checking the relay, and also (less likely due to good cranking speed), the engine earth strap.

Cheers,

Lionel

Phillip Simpson came up with the following;:

I'd go along with that one.

A duff earth strap can cause all sorts of problems which appear to be from some part which, when tested, appears absolutely fine.

First thing I do on any vehicle I get now is to change or at least check, the earthing, battery to chassis, chassis to engine, engine to battery etc etc. More is better ... ;)

Kieran Hi,

I remember reading an article in one of the LR related magazines published in the UK about one of their fleet Discos with a 300Tdi engine having the same problem (difficult cold starting)

It turned out the fuel pump was out of timing. Fiddling with the timing (you can do so if you remove the small round cover on the left side of the timing cover (right below from the area where the A/C compressor is located if you have AC). It is better to be left to a mechanic who knows what he is doing but I would suggest you give it a try if all other proposals do not provide you with a solution.

Take care Pantelis

Kieran, A few years ago I had a 300Tdi Defender with the same problem. Someone had *borrowed* the 60Amp fuse in the Glow Plug circuit. Everything back to normal when it was replaced. Joskin

On or around Thu, 29 Sep 2005 19:28:25 +1200, EMB enlightened us thusly:

the old ones in the series tended to take quite a while. most of the more modern kind I've seen take somethihng between about 5 and 10 seconds.

On or around Thu, 29 Sep 2005 18:45:45 +1000, "Graeme Evans" enlightened us thusly:

generally engines will start in warm weather with one, two or even 3 missing. A critical few degrees colder and it won't. 's like the way it starets fine all summer on a dodgy battery but then it gets slightly colder and won't go.